


The Feather of Maat

by Cliophilyra



Series: 30 day OTP Challenge (Done in much more than 30 days) [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Crack, Gabriel Ships It, Gabriel's POV, M/M, MOL Bunker, No actual Sabriel scenes, truth spell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 02:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9414473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cliophilyra/pseuds/Cliophilyra
Summary: What is a powerful magical object doing unlabelled in an old box in the Bunker? This is why proper gloves are essential.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So it's all been a bit awful these last few days for everyone so I really wanted to just write something silly and hopefully amusing to maybe cheer people up a bit :) I hope you enjoy it. Xx
> 
> (This was originally started as part of a since abandoned 30 day OTP challenge for the prompt 'Artifacts'. I am thinking I might start it up again so I have added it to the series.)

Ok babe, the first thing I want to make clear is that I did try to warn him. This was not a prank.

I opened the door to the store room and there he was with his hand already in one of the old cardboard file boxes, reaching for a huge Ostrich feather. It took me a moment to realise what it was; even archangels need time to process. So, by the time I yelled at him not to touch it, it was too late and he’d already picked it up.

The feather was a big, cream coloured thing. It curled over at the tip and long fluffy barbs drooped down from it. He held it by the gold covered shaft and stared at me like a particularly surprised fish. I’ll admit I might have cringed back a little, expecting something dramatic to happen, but nothing happened at all; no flashes of light or claps of thunder. No sparks or ominous sound effects; it just hung from his hand like a big, old feather. 

We looked at each other; him frowning at me as if he thought I might have gone nuts and me wide-eyed, waiting for something that didn’t seem to be coming and feeling slightly stupid; thinking maybe it was just a regular, dusty, old feather. It only took a second of concentration though and I knew I was right, there was power rolling off the thing in waves. It was definitely her feather. “Put that down you idiot!” I said again.

Dean narrowed his eyes at me then looked down at the feather in confusion. “What? Why? Screw you Gabriel.” he said, in his usual delightful way, but he did drop the feather.

I walked over and looked into the box. The feather was lying on top of a pile of mostly harmless amulets and pieces of vaguely occult jewellery. There was a yellowing paper tag tied around the shaft. I picked it up, without touching the feather (because your boyfriend is considerable smarter than your brother – you’ll be pleased to know) and turned it over to read the faded words.

Feather of Ma’at; Luxor, Egypt 1922. DANGEROUS – ONLY TO BE HANDLED WITH GLOVES!

I held the label up for him to read, which he did, squinting at the tiny writing. I reached into the box again and pulled out a pair of what looked like gardening gloves that were buried under all the other crap. I shook them under his nose. 

“Seriously Winchester, you live in a literal fortress full of dangerous magical shit and you just go sticking your stupid mortal hands wherever you fancy. This place is full of things that could potentially kill you. How you’re not just a pair of smoking boots on the floor by now is beyond me!”

“What is it?” he asked, ignoring me and looking nervously at his hand – I have no idea what he expected to see there. An explanation? 

“The clue is on the label,” I replied, waving it again and pointing. “The Feather of Ma’at.”

He looked at me levelly. “I don’t know what that is.” 

I really tried not to roll my eyes but I’m pretty sure I didn’t succeed. You are definitely the brains of the operation kiddo, which is one of the many reasons why I love you. 

I put on the gloves and lifted the feather carefully out of the box. I brushed the barbs out of the way of the golden case around the shaft and showed Dean the symbols etched into the metal. 

“Hieroglyphs.” I said, “It says ‘Maat is good and its worth is lasting. Who touches this symbol of Maat, truth lies before even him who admits nothing.’”

He stared at me for a few seconds in silence and then raised an eyebrow pointedly. I sighed. “It’s a magic ancient Egyptian feather that makes you tell the truth – whether you want to or not.” I explained with as much patience as I could muster.

He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the feather then sighed deeply, scrubbing his hands over his eyes. “Of course it is,” he said, “Is it life threatening and when will it go away?” 

I shrugged, because I really didn’t have that much experience with this kind of mojo. “I don’t think it’s life threatening – unless you tell the truth to the wrong person and they kill you.” I added as an afterthought because, well, forewarned and all that.

He glowered at me. “What the fuck was it doing in a box of random crap with no fucking warning on?” he asked.

“The Men of Letters had a lot of random crap Deano – I guess they couldn’t keep track of everything. Don’t know how long it’ll last.” I looked at him carefully. “How do you feel?” I asked. He looked pretty much the same as usual, like an over-compensating Ken doll. He didn’t look especially…truthy…

He shrugged. “I don’t know man. Normal I guess?” he frowned as if concentrating on the inside of his head.

“Hmmm," I said and then, with a carefully constructed look of innocent curiosity I added, "You took ages in the shower this morning. What were you doing?” 

“Jerking off.” he said without hesitation. His eyes widened and he closed his mouth with an audible snap. “I didn’t mean to say that,” he added, somewhat unnecessarily.

“Well I guess I got my answer,” I said with a shudder, “That’ll teach me.” As I took in his stricken, panicked expression, I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “So, who were you thinking…?” 

Unfortunately he was way ahead of me. He grabbed me and clapped his hand over my mouth, muffling the rest of my question. 

“Shut up Gabriel,” he hissed in my ear, “I will not hesitate to kill you.” 

***

After I’d agreed not to torment him for my own amusement he eventually let me go. (Not that he could do anything to harm me anyway but it generally seems to be easier to let him think he's the alpha male or whatever. Male egos are so fragile.) I retrieved the feather and took it back to somewhere with safe, spell-guarded boxes and then caught up with him in the map room. 

He was sitting at the table, resting his head on his arms and apparently talking to himself. Well, swearing to himself at least.

I sat down at the other side of the table, put my feet up and folded my arms. I looked at him sympathetically. “Hey it’s ok Deano, I’m sure it will wear off soon.”

He lifted his head and frowned at me skeptically. "Are you?"

I smiled and nodded, trying to look more confident than I felt. He rolled his eyes and shoved my feet off the table. “Get your feet off the woodwork dude, you’re scuffing the varnish." he said. 

That made me laugh out loud; usually when he says shit like that he pretends it’s you that gets pissed off at footprints on the furniture. He shot me a look that would have been terrifying to a lesser being and dropped his head back to the table top with a thunk. 

"Hey," I said, trying to sound positive, "I'm sure my Sasquatch'll be able to figure it all out when he gets back." (Because I have all the faith in you and your awesome research skills baby.)

"Sam doesn't get back for 2 days Gabriel!" he yelled. "What am I going to do for 2 days? I can't hunt like this! Bit difficult to be a fake fed if I can't fucking lie!"

"You don't even have a case at the moment. Sam's gonna be back from Jodie's soon so just hang out here and...don't say much." 

He sighed, dropping his head again and breathing a heartfelt, "Fuck," into the cradle of his forearms.

There was a pause, which I absolutely didn't fill by trying to think of the best ways to use the situation to entertain myself over the next few days, then he said, "How did you recognise the feather?"

"I kicked around Egypt a bit back in the day." I shrugged, "Well the Egyptian afterlife anyway. Ma'at was pretty hot (sorry babe, obvs not as hot as you) she showed me her magic feather a couple times." I winked, because I know it annoys him.

Dean screwed up his nose at me. "Just so I'm clear, are there any deities you haven't screwed?"

I smirked. "Probably. Can't think of any though. That's kind of the joy of being a pagan. It's all about celebrating life and love and food and wine and sex and all that jazz. Much less tedious piety and hypocrisy. That's why I chose you idiots over the fam in the end."

He was staring at me levelly, looking somewhat unimpressed and suddenly I realised that probably didn't sound great considering... "Those days are behind me now though." I continued smoothly, "What's the point in screwing around with a bunch of gods and goddesses when I've got my Samsquatch?"

He made a gagging noise and put his fingers in his ears for a moment, but I did catch a faint smile. He approves of me really.

"So what was this magic feather used for?" he asked, before hurriedly adding, "If it's anything kinky I don't want to know."

"Nope, nothing that's going to offend your delicate sensibilities Winchester. It was used like a lie detector for souls." I explained, "So after you die you stand before Anubis, the God of the underworld and hold the feather and recite a list of what they called negative confessions - so you confess that you have never done any of the things on the list - 'I have never murdered someone', 'I have never fucked a goat', that kind of thing. So if you try to lie the feather won't let you."

"Huh. Makes sense I guess, as religious bs goes. Good to know that murder and goat fucking are sins that have stood the test of time." 

"Well I'm pretty sure murder was on the list - I'm a bit sketchy on the goat fucking. It's been a long time. It is usually frowned on though."

"So no clue on time scale?"

I wracked my brain but I couldn't remember anything about how long the effects lasted after touching the feather. Whenever I'd been there to watch, the souls had to keep holding the feather while they recited the list so I'd never seen what happened once they let go. Plus those were souls, not living people. I shook my head. "Sorry."

He rolled his eyes again. "Right, well I'm just gonna have to stay in and hope nothing comes up. It can't be that bad, right?"

"That's the spirit. You'll be fine."

As if on cue there was a quiet sound from the doorway and we both turned to see my little brother looking like a zombie. He was wearing worn blue plaid sleep pants and an ancient grey t-shirt with a stretched out neckline that drooped at the front. His hair was sticking up more than usual and he was covering his mouth as he stretched awkwardly and yawned so wide I expected the top of his head to fall off.

“Hey Cassie, how’s it hanging?” I said. He looked at me over his hand and nodded slowly. As you well know, he is essentially useless pre-coffee, now he’s human.

He murmured something that could have been, “Good morning,” and turned away. Before he walked off he turned back, gestured vaguely in the direction of the kitchen and asked, “Do you want anything Dean?” 

There was silence, Dean shook his head and Cas shuffled off in search of caffeine. As I turned back to Dean I realised he was staring after my brother, I mean full on staring. Like a crazy person. His eyes were wide and it looked like he was clenching his teeth.

“Are you ok?” I asked, because he looked like he might be about to have an aneurysm.

He nodded but didn’t speak. I was baffled for a moment, trying to figure out what I’d missed. Then it hit me. Your brother loves my brother. I mean, he really, really loves him. 

It's not like I hadn't noticed the way they look at each other, I'm not blind and all the eye-fucking over the dinner table is starting to feel a little unhygienic, but I hadn't really dwelled on it. I've been...distracted lately. I hadn't realised quite how bad it had gotten.

Dean was looking as if he might break a tooth with the force he was using to hold his jaw closed and I was extremely impressed. To fight the feather’s imperative to speak the truth you need some serious strength of will. Or sheer massive bloodymindedness.

As soon as Cas was out of earshot he opened his mouth, breath bursting out in a rush along with what sounded something like the word, “You.”

He dropped his head back onto the table. I watched him for a little while, waiting for him to say something but he didn’t, he just hid his face in his arms. I felt a bit awkward, I’m not great at the touchy-feely stuff, at least not where your brother is concerned - or mine - but I suppose I got a little bit of what he was going through. After all, it took me long enough to pluck up the courage to tell you how I felt, didn’t it? Admittedly though, the slow burn nightmare our brothers have had going on for this past millennia makes us look like a fucking whirlwind romance.

So it was at that point I realised that I could help them. I know they’re in love with each other, you know they’re in love with each other; random strangers who see them in the street know they're in love which other - they just need to have it explained to them; preferably with diagrams. Making people see the truth of things is what I do - essentially - so I figured it was basically my job to make them sort this out for the good of everyone's sanity.

***

"Right, we'd better do some fucking research then." he said, sitting up suddenly before I could even form a coherent plan.

"What?" I asked, a bit thrown by the change of direction. 

"Yeah, waiting for Sam's not going to work, there's...something I didn't take into account."

I raised an eyebrow, wondering if he knew how fucking transparent he was. "Ookaay." I looked down and shook my head. "So what do you want to do?"

"We're gonna have to hit the books, see what we can dig up. It's gotta be in there somewhere."

"Books?" I groaned. "Oh my dad, I really hate research. I like to think of myself as an archangel of leisure."

"Yeah no shit, but you're gonna help me fix this or I'm gonna tell your boyfriend that it was all your fault." he said, which was uncalled for I thought. He got up and smacked his hands on the table. "Come on."

With a deep sigh I followed him in the direction of the library. I had a pretty good idea where we could probably find something about the feather but at this point I didn't want him to find anything too quickly. If the Dean + Cas 4 Eva plan was going to work - not that I had anything that could be called a solid plan yet - I needed a bit more time.

It seemed like all I really needed to do was get Cas to ask the right question. One that was innocent on the surface but unambiguous enough that Dean would have no choice but to admit his feelings.

He opened the laptop on the table and sat down. I stood looking over his shoulder for a moment while he started Googling 'ancient Egyptian curse.' 

"Yeah that's gonna work." I sighed and he scowled at me. 

"Well you'd better hit the books then. I'm calling dibs on the computer, so you get the books." he answered, the smug bastard.

"I'm a fucking archangel not your fucking PA." I said, I was a bit put-out at this point.

"You're an archangel who's screwing my brother - and can I just say how much I hate that you made me think about that fact - so, if you insist on spending your time hanging around my home, even when he's not here, then you can make yourself useful or, as I said, I will blame this whole shit show on you. It's not like you don't have form in this area douchebag."

***

The spells and curses section of the MoL library is freaking massive. I'm pretty sure the library is actually infinite anyway, they do that sometimes, libraries. So I found myself standing at the bottom of a wide wooden shelf that seemed to go up forever. There was a ladder, not that I needed one but looking up I got the distinct impression that the top was beyond the range of normal human sight. 

I closed my eyes and stretched out my hand, thinking about the books I knew we needed and then they were in my hand. It's so much easier that way. 

As I sat down in one of the big overstuffed armchairs and started flicking though the first book, my brother suddenly appeared. He was holding a steaming mug of coffee and looking curious and slightly more awake. 

"Morning again Cassie. Back in the land of the living?"

He nodded and regarded me suspiciously. "What's going on? You don't read." he said.

I grinned. "Slight magical mishap." I explained, holding up my thumb and finger a tiny way apart. 

"What have you done?"

"Why do you assume it was me?" I really was getting fed up with these unfounded accusations, "Your boy toy brought this on himself."

His eyes widened in panic. "Dean!"

"You said it." I grinned.

"What happened? Is he ok? Where is he?"

I rolled my eyes. "He's fine, apart from being a dick as usual anyway. He's in the other room hogging the computer."

Castiel looked at me with narrowed eyes. "So what was the 'mishap'?" he asked.

"Weellll..." I debated whether to tell him the truth. In the end I decided I'd might as well. It seems to be all the rage at the moment.

"He kind of accidentally picked up the Feather of Maat."

"Gabriel!" he exclaimed angrily, as if this was my fault. 

"What part of accidentally did you not understand?" 

"The part where you had anything to do with it." he sniffed.

"Oh gee thanks Cas." It's the assumption that hurts really.

He rolled his eyes. "You do know that if he doesn't tell the truth to any question he's asked he will die?"

Well I hadn't known that. How did that work? He had just stopped himself telling the truth hadn't he? But he hadn't, he'd just held off until Cas was out of earshot.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"I read." he replied and headed toward the main library room.

Shit. That wasn't part of the plan. 

I hurried after my brother and found him standing in the library door, staring at Dean who sat at the table, lit by the blue light of the laptop screen. 

I stopped at Cas's side. I'll admit I felt a little pull on my heart strings when I looked at his face. I'm pretty sure I used to have that expression. Before you got a clue and finally figured out you wanted my sweet feathery ass. Anyway, I digress. The point was Cas was just as smitten as your stupid brother. 

"Dean, are you ok? Gabriel told me what happened." Cas said.

Dean turned to look at him, a haunted expression on his face. "No I'm not ok." he said carefully, as if listening to himself speak. 

"What's wrong?" Cas asked, making a bee-line straight for the idiot and putting a hand on his forearm.

Dean's eyes widened and he swallowed hard, getting that aneurysm expression again.

Cas frowned at him. "Don't fight it Dean, it can be dangerous, you have to tell the truth." he said, carefully skirting the 'it could kill you' bit of the narrative.

Dean's face was looking decidedly red at this point and his mouth snapped open on the words. "You."

"Me?" Cas looked so crushed at this point I thought I might cry. If it hadn't all been so ridiculous.

"I'm what's wrong?"

Dean nodded.

"I'm sorry Dean. Do you want me to go?"

"No!" This without a moments hesitation.

"Then what do you want?"

"You!"

They stared at each other for a few seconds and then Dean made some sort of weird strangled groan and they sort of lunged at each other and after that I covered my eyes, lest I be forced to get out the brain bleach. However there was a lot of horrible kissing noises and moaning.

Moments later when I re-opened my eyes they were gone but I did hear a bedroom door slam in the distance. I, feeling happy with a job well done, despite not really having done much at all to be honest, sat down in front of the TV with a massive bag of M&M's and was half way through a classic episode of Buffy when the banging started. It was quiet at first but oddly rhythmic and gradually started to build to a crescendo. I muted the TV and suddenly I could hear voices as well. 

Well lets just say there are some things one never needs or wants to hear ones little brother saying, or, by implication, doing.

So that was the point at which I wrote this exciting account of today's adventures - so you wouldn't be completely fucking baffled when you returned to find them fucking on the kitchen table or whatever - and fucked off into the infinite for a bit of peace.

I hope you had a good trip and that Jodie en famile are all thriving. Pray to me when the coast is clear - I hope the walls are still standing and that you didn't actually walk in on them on the kitchen table. 

I love you kiddo, 

Gabriel xxx


End file.
